Method of installing IC tag in packaged commodity

ABSTRACT

An IC tag is installed in a blister pack in which a commodity is stored in a cavity formed in a transparent resin sheet and the periphery of the transparent resin sheet is joined to a backing sheet. The antenna of the IC tag or the connection line in connection with its IC chip is provided at the joint location between the transparent resin sheet and the backing sheet. Once the connection between the transparent resin sheet and the backing sheet is broken and the commodity is taken out, the antenna or the connection line is broken, which disables the IC tag. Therefore, an unlawful item that cannot be identified from its appearance is detected by accessing the IC tag using a reader/writer.

The present disclosure relates to subject matter contained in priority Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-167116, filed on Jun. 7, 2005, the contents of which is herein expressly incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method of installing an IC tag in a package for a commodity for use in commodity control, sales control and the like.

2. Description of the Related Art

Blister packs are in wide use as packages for relatively small size commodities. Blister packs are suited for hanging display. Many kinds of commodities can be three-dimensionally arranged as the commodities are hung on stick-like hooks provided in the depth-direction of a display shelf. In this way, commodities can be viewed through the transparent covers and a wider commercial space can be secured.

On the other hand, a blister pack can easily be disassembled so that a commodity inside can easily be taken out. Therefore, many cases have been reported on counterfeit items packed into used blister packs and made to look as if they are genuine items for sale. Since counterfeit items are made to look exactly like genuine items on the appearance, their real identity is often determined based on errors made in description or a wrong mark on the surface of the package. If, however, a genuine package is reused, it is extremely difficult to identify a counterfeit. While consumers surely suffer from the deception, damage suffered by the manufacturer also increases in proportion to the number of such counterfeit items. The existence of such counterfeit items has been a serious problem to the manufacturer.

Therefore, a measure to ascertain whether a package for a commodity has been opened is necessary, and there is a known adhesive label for alternation protection as means for determining whether the package has been opened. The label causes a mark to be left if a commodity or a part of its package is removed from a prescribed position (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 2003-084672).

According to another proposed method, an IC tag is installed in a commodity or its package to provide a mechanism of determining a genuine item and a counterfeit item and if the IC tag is removed, its function is lost. According to a known structure, for example, if an IC tag attached to a commodity is removed, the connection between the IC chip and the antenna of the IC tag is broken (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 2001-167240).

The blister pack includes a backing sheet of paper or resin and a transparent cover of a transparent resin sheet with a cavity having a sufficient capacity for storing a commodity. A commodity is stored in the cavity and the periphery of the transparent cover and the backing sheet are joined to obtain a packaged commodity. The backing sheet and the transparent cover are joined by a fitting structure, stapling, adhering or fusion-bonding, while the backing sheet and the transparent cover must be separated easily so that a consumer can easily take out the commodity. This is a cause of misuse of a blister pack after the commodity is taken out.

It is difficult to apply an adhesive label for alternation protection or a delamination disintegrable IC tag according to conventional techniques to the blister pack. When part of the transparent cover is removed from the backing sheet, and the commodity is taken out, the transparent cover may be attached exactly back to the original position. Therefore, the removal cannot evidently be marked by the use of the adhesive label for alternation protection. The delamination disintegrable IC tag is disintegrated when the tag itself is removed from the position where it is attached. Therefore, the tag can hardly be applied to the blister pack produced as a joint structure of the transparent cover and the backing sheet.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention has been made in view of the problems described above, and it is an object of the invention to provide a method of installing an IC tag in a packaged commodity that allows imitations or counterfeits to be prevented from being produced by disabling the function of the IC tag once the transparent cover of a blister pack is separated from its backing sheet.

In order to achieve the above described object, in a method of installing an IC tag in a packaged commodity according to a first aspect of the invention, an IC tag including an IC chip and an antenna connected to the IC chip through a connection line is installed in a blister pack in which a commodity provided on a backing sheet is stored in a cavity formed in a transparent resin sheet and a periphery of the transparent resin sheet is joined to the backing sheet. The antenna or the connection line of the IC tag is provided at a joint surface between the transparent resin sheet and the backing sheet.

According to the installing method, the antenna or the connection line of the IC tag is provided at the joint surface between the transparent resin sheet and the backing sheet, and therefore when the transparent resin sheet is removed from the backing sheet, the antenna or the connection line formed as a thin film is broken, which disables the function of the IC tag. Therefore, whether or not the blister pack has been opened is determined by checking the operation of the IC tag.

In order to achieve the above described object, in a method of installing an IC tag in a packaged commodity according to a second aspect of the invention, an IC tag including an IC chip and an antenna connected to the IC chip through a connection line is installed in a blister pack in which a commodity provided on a backing sheet is stored in a cavity formed in a transparent resin sheet, a periphery of the transparent resin sheet is joined to the backing sheet, and a perforation for taking out the commodity is formed at the backing sheet in a location corresponding to the cavity. The antenna or the connection line of the IC tag is provided across the perforation formed at the backing sheet.

According to the installing method, when the commodity is taken out by tearing off a part of the backing sheet along the perforation, the antenna or the connection line provided across the perforation is also broken, which disables the function of the IC tag. In this way, whether or not the blister pack has been opened is determined by checking the operation of the IC tag.

In order to achieve the above describe object, in a method of installing an IC tag in a packaged commodity according to a third aspect of the invention, an IC tag including an IC chip and an antenna connected to the IC chip through a connection line is installed in a blister pack in which a commodity provided on a backing sheet is stored in a cavity formed in a transparent resin sheet and a periphery of the transparent resin sheet is joined to the backing sheet, and a perforation for taking out the commodity is formed at the backing sheet in a location corresponding to the cavity. Part of the antenna is provided at a joint surface between the transparent resin sheet and the backing sheet, and the antenna or the connection line is provided across the perforation formed at the backing sheet.

According to the installing method, when the commodity is taken out by tearing off the sheet along the perforation or when the commodity is taken out by removing the transparent resin sheet, the antenna or the connection line is broken. In other words, the function of the IC tag is disabled when the commodity is taken out in either case. Therefore, whether or not the blister pack has been opened is determined by checking the operation of the IC tag.

According to the installing methods described above, when the backing sheet is made of the same sheet material as the transparent resin sheet, and the backing sheet and the transparent resin sheet are fitted with each other and adhered at their peripheries, in other words, when a clamshell blister pack is employed, the transparent resin sheet and the backing sheet are fitted with each other and fusion-bonded, so that if the joint part is broken, the antenna or connection line formed as a thin film is broken or damaged, which disables the function of the IC tag.

While novel features of the invention are set forth in the preceding, the invention, both as to organization and content, can be further understood and appreciated, along with other objects and features thereof, from the following detailed description and examples when taken in conjunction with the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the structure of a blister pack according to a first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of an example of the structure of an IC tag; and

FIG. 3A is a plan view of the front surface side of the structure of a blister pack according to a second embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 3B is a plan view of the back surface side thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Now, embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3B. Note that the following embodiments are simply examples of how the invention is embodied and should not be construed as limiting the technical scope of the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a blister pack A according to a first embodiment of the invention. The cavity 2 a of a transparent resin sheet 2 stores a commodity 10, the periphery of the transparent resin sheet 2 is joined to a backing sheet 3, and a hanging hole 3 a formed in the backing sheet 3 is passed through a hook provided at a display shelf, so that the commodity is displayed.

As shown in FIG. 2, a sheet shaped IC tag 1 is attached to the backing sheet 3, and information necessary for commodity control, stock control and the like is recorded in the tag. The IC tag 1 includes a coil antenna 6 formed on a transparent film by screen printing or vapor deposition and an IC chip 7 connected to a connection line 8 extended from both ends of the antenna 6. The IC tag is a passive tag in which the IC chip 7 is formed as an integrated circuit including a memory, a control circuit and the like. The IC chip 7 can operate with minute power induced in the antenna 6 as the antenna receives electric waves output from a reader/writer. In this configuration, information recorded in the memory is transmitted to the reader/writer from the antenna 6 as a response signal.

The transparent film of the IC tag 1 may also serve as a covering layer to cover the entire surface of the backing sheet 3 or may have an outer size substantially equal to the transparent resin sheet 2 as shown. Meanwhile, the antenna 6 or the connection line 8 between the IC chip 7 and the antenna 6 is provided at the joint position where the transparent resin sheet 2 is connected to the backing sheet 3.

A commodity 10 packaged in such a blister pack A could be taken out by removing the transparent resin sheet 2 from the backing sheet 3, which allows many counterfeit items to be distributed. In each case, a transparent resin sheet 2 is removed carefully not to damage it from each blister pack A, a commodity 10 is taken out, a counterfeit is stored in the blister pack, and the package is returned to the original state. According to the embodiment, however, once the connection between the transparent resin sheet 2 and the backing sheet 3 is broken, the antenna 6 or the connection line 8 located at the joint position is broken, which disables the function of the IC tag 1. Therefore, it is determined that the blister pack A has been opened.

It is impossible to determine an unlawful object such as a counterfeit item by the eye if the packed item has substantially the same appearance and the package itself is a legitimate package reused. According to the embodiment, since the function of the IC tag 1 is disabled once the package is opened, an unlawful counterfeit is determined by accessing the blister pack A using a reader/writer, even if it appears to be legitimate.

FIG. 3A is a plan view of the front surface side of a blister pack B according to a second embodiment of the invention. The backing sheet 3 shown in FIG. 3B has a perforation 9 at the back side so that a commodity 10 is easily taken out. The other structure is the same as that of the blister pack A and no further description of the structure will be provided.

For the blister pack B having the perforation 9, the IC tag 1 is attached so that the antenna 6 or the connection line 8 is positioned across the perforation 9. In this way, when the perforation 9 is broken in order to take out the commodity 10, the antenna 6 or the connection line 8 is broken together with the perforation 9, which disables the function of the IC tag 1.

An offender may break the connection between the transparent resin sheet 2 and the backing sheet 3 that may be restored and take out the commodity 10 with the intention of carrying out an unlawful act rather than breaking the perforation 9 whose tear-off state is more easily detected. Therefore, to ensure the protection, part of the antenna 6 is preferably positioned at the joint position between the transparent resin sheet 2 and the backing sheet 3 in addition to the perforation 9 similarly to the first embodiment.

As in the foregoing, according to the invention, once a commodity is taken out from a blister pack, the function of an IC tag installed in the package is disabled. Therefore, if for example an unlawfully produced counterfeit is stored in a blister pack after its rightful item is taken out, the attached IC tag is disabled, so that the item is determined as a counterfeit despite its rightful looking appearance as it is stored in the used legitimate package. This is therefore an effective countermeasure against counterfeit items.

Although the present invention has been fully described in connection with the preferred embodiment thereof, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications apparent to those skilled in the art are to be understood as included within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims unless they depart therefrom. 

1. A method of installing an IC tag in a packaged commodity, comprising installing an IC tag including an IC chip and an antenna connected to the IC chip through a connection line in a blister pack in which a commodity provided on a backing sheet is stored in a cavity formed in a transparent resin sheet and a periphery of the transparent resin sheet is joined to the backing sheet, and wherein the antenna or the connection line of the IC tag is provided at a joint surface between the transparent resin sheet and the backing sheet.
 2. A method of installing an IC tag in a packaged commodity, comprising installing an IC tag including an IC chip and an antenna connected to the IC chip through a connection line in a blister pack in which a commodity provided on a backing sheet is stored in a cavity formed in a transparent resin sheet, a periphery of the transparent resin sheet is joined to the backing sheet, and a perforation for taking out the commodity is formed at the backing sheet in a location corresponding to the cavity, and wherein the antenna or the connection line of the IC tag is provided across the perforation formed at the backing sheet.
 3. A method of installing an IC tag in a packaged commodity, comprising installing an IC tag including an IC chip and an antenna connected to the IC chip through a connection line in a blister pack in which a commodity provided on a backing sheet is stored in a cavity formed in a transparent resin sheet and a periphery of the transparent resin sheet is joined to the backing sheet, and a perforation for taking out the commodity is formed at the backing sheet in a location corresponding to the cavity, and wherein part of the antenna is provided at a joint surface between the transparent resin sheet and the backing sheet, and the antenna or the connection line is provided across the perforation formed at the backing sheet.
 4. The method of installing an IC tag in a packaged commodity according to claim 1, wherein the backing sheet is made of the same sheet material as the transparent resin sheet, and the backing sheet and the transparent resin sheet are fitted with each other and adhered at their peripheries to constitute a clamshell structure.
 5. The method of installing an IC tag in a packaged commodity according to claim 2, wherein the backing sheet is made of the same sheet material as the transparent resin sheet, and the backing sheet and the transparent resin sheet are fitted with each other and adhered at their peripheries to constitute a clamshell structure 